RESUMO
Six-week-old rats subjected to prenatal and postnatal dietary restriction (maternal and weanling intake = 50% that of controls) were studied. Compared with controls, malnourished rats not only had reduced body (78 +/- 12 vs 187 +/- 21 g) and organ weights (small intestine: 4.51 +/- 0.46 vs 9.89 +/- 0.61 g; colon: 0.75 +/- 0.08 vs 1.77 +/- 0.18 g; liver: 2.75 +/- 0.34 vs 9.13 +/- 1.33 g; pancreas: 0.78 +/- 0.14 vs 1.67 +/- 0.49 g) but also decreased body weight-length ratios (6.5 +/- 0.3 vs 10.8 +/- 1.4 g/cm) and serum albumin levels. The small intestinal mucosa was hypotrophic (protein-DNA ratio: 5.02 +/- 1.43 vs 8.82 +/- 0.68, malnourished vs controls, respectively) with reduced mucosal thickness, villus height, and crypt depth. Specific activities of lactase, maltase, and sucrase were diminished (53%, 66%, 54% of control values, respectively). Colonic mucosa was hypoplastic with decreased mucosal thickness and crypt depth. Liver and pancreas were both hypotrophic and hypoplastic. The findings suggest that, in contrast to colonic mucosa, pancreas, and liver, the small intestinal mucosa maintained cell number during prolonged prenatal and postnatal malnutrition.
Assuntos
Animais Recém-Nascidos/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Sistema Digestório/metabolismo , Distúrbios Nutricionais/metabolismo , Efeitos Tardios da Exposição Pré-Natal , Animais , Colo/metabolismo , Colo/patologia , DNA/análise , Sistema Digestório/patologia , Feminino , Mucosa Intestinal/enzimologia , Intestino Delgado/metabolismo , Intestino Delgado/patologia , Fígado/metabolismo , Fígado/patologia , Distúrbios Nutricionais/patologia , Tamanho do Órgão , Pâncreas/metabolismo , Pâncreas/patologia , Gravidez , Proteínas/análise , Ratos , Ratos Endogâmicos , Sacarase/metabolismo , alfa-Glucosidases/metabolismo , beta-Galactosidase/metabolismoRESUMO
Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) or 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) individually stimulated amylase release in dispersed rat pancreatic acini. Pretreatment of acini with TPA (10(-6) M) for 5 min at 37 degrees C potentiated their subsequent response to stimulation by VIP at a dose range of 10(-8)-10(-6) M in that the treated pancreatic acini released more amylase than could be accounted for by the additive effects of VIP or TPA acting individually. This potentiation effect of TPA was still evident when isobutyl methylxanthine was given together with VIP. Further, the maximal' dose-response curve to VIP shifted 2 log units to the left (3 x 10(-9) versus 3 x 10(-7) M). The TPA preincubation was found also to potentiate VIP-stimulated net increases in intracellular cyclic AMP (cAMP) levels. A close correlation existed between the net releases of amylase and the net increases in intracellular cAMP levels (r = 0.97). This suggested that TPA potentiated the response of rat pancreatic acini to VIP by modulating the cAMP system. The TPA as a potent activator of protein kinase C may act as a modulator of the adenylate cylase-cAMP system in rat pancreatic acini.